The Good

We’ve been checking out what became of the Illuminati in the face of Incursions becoming public knowledge and S.H.I.E.L.D. vastly expanding their powers in the United States, with many heroes falling on their side but a few (mostly Illuminati members) going underground. But what became of the few who, before all this began, jumped through an interdimensional portal with an army of Ex Nihili? Jonathan Hickman never leaves a plot thread dangling, and we pick up eight months after their jump as they come upon the fortress of the malevolent Black Priests. Remember them? Dismantled an entire world’s heroes during an Incursion with nothing but a few words? Yeah, they can still do that, it turns out. Hickman solves my biggest problem with this title’s past issues of only doling out little bits of information on how the world came to be this way, but that narrative gap is side-stepped handily here: they’ve been dimension hopping for eight months. And now here we are! The battle with the Priests is an intense, mind-bending one as they use language itself to reshape and remake reality. We also get a glimpse of where Doctor Strange wound up and exactly how far Thor is willing to go to maintain his power. There’s also an interlude with Doctor Doom and an increasingly unstable Molecule Man to give us some characterization and dialog, alongside Strange completely redefining how the battle over Incursions should be viewed. There is an absolute TON of content in this normal-sized issue, but Hickman manages to make it feel natural and well-paced rather than rushed.

Szymon Kudranksi provides the linework, and it is a sight to behold. The visuals are muddy, but somehow maintain an incredible level of detail both in terms of the characters and the background. I’ve scarcely seen Doom look so run down and even grimy, yet still having an incredibly regal and bizarrely noble bearing. The Black Priests are nightmare factories in and of themselves, and the visual language of their bizarre fortress is surreal and frightening. The colors by Dono Sanchez Almara are as much a part of that language as the linework and they’re murky at the edges, but sharp as you look closer. Reflections of light and energy are brought to vivid life but there’s also a quiet desperation pervading every panel.

The Bad

The recap takes up two pages, but you need it badly if you haven’t been peeking over at what the Avengers have been up to. It’s not enough to get entirely lost in, and their story relies less on knowing exactly who the characters are and what they can do, as much as knowing about the Incursions and that’s within the narrative of this book.

While Kudranksi and Almara’s art is a sight to behold throughout, the last few pages of the issue lose some of the detail and visual luster, rendering the characters flatly and without the same level of detail they had before.

The Verdict

Things are fast coming to a head in the tale of the Incursions, and this issue contains one of the first major developments on that front in some time. How all the pieces will fit together is still anyone’s guess, but it’s good to see this issue continue down the right track with further plot and character developments. There’s even a bit of wit and humor to lighten the enervating load that the heroes, and readers, must be feeling at this stage making this a great addition to one of the most epic stories in Marvel’s history.

Great issue, Hickman started to break dam and give us info on what was going on in multiverse. Nice to see Earth team whoop a little Black Priest butt!

ivory Kings v. Rabum Alal. Can't wait

I didn't even know until this morning that this issue even came out today. Threw a wrench into my budgeting.

This Time Runs Out storyline is getting more and more crazy.

So, in between the whole summoning Old Ones to beat the Justice League and now, Dr. Strange continued to use his chaotic dark magic and eventually went to traverse dead space and create a cult to traverse the multiverse, killing Earths to save everything, only to be seen at some point in the past by himself and his teammates.

We got time travel and universe hopping. Everything is feeding back in on itself as Final Crisis occurs.

Dr .Strange's aspect on this book has been fascinating. Especially when he defeated those other dimension JLA heroes. By looking at the cover, I knew Strange keeping the (Dr.Fate clone's) helmet was going to come back!!

MARVEL PLEASE GIVE DOC STRANGE HIS OWN BOOK! I already knew that he would be joining up with the Black Preist since Black Swan didn't trust him when they first meet.

Ah so Thor has a new different Mjolnir now, i see.

What a great issue. I am very much looking forward to seeing how this all ties together and end. Still need to see how they deal with Rabam Alal, Ivory Kings, and the Cabal. I hope that Hickman is able to deliver on the conclusion as well as he has delivered on the build up. I love this story so far and look forward to re-reading it all from the beginning whenever it is all said and done.

Where is a good jumping on point for New Avengers? I've read all of Hickman's Avengers title and really want to get into this without my headhurting.

Cover in New Avengers #27 is Szymon Kudranski no Szymon Kudraksi, it is you bad Corey ;p

I was pretty certain right at the start that the priests would have something to do with Strange (although I assumed it would be an alternate-universe version), particularly due to the robes and the fact that they appear to have something similar to the Eye of Agammoto on their helments. So I am pleased about this.

Starting to wonder if the Ivory Kings and Rabum Alal might also be tied into our current heroes too. Always had my suspicions (I don't know why) that the Ivory Kings might be tied either to Black Bolt or Black Panther.

And please, please, let Doom be a deciding factor in sorting all this out. The incursions so far have all hinted at how powerful he is and how much of a threat he can be. Let me see that play out in full!

Sweet

Has been one of my favourite series since issue 1. My only issue is that I'm not enjoying Avengers nearly as much, but I feel like I have to keep reading it just to understand whats going on.

Ah, Molecule Man. What is going on here? So many possibilities.

My theory is that al this end of the world stuff is leading directly to the new Secret Wars. And that Molecule Man is a central part of it.

There have been some interesting dialog lines dropped in the last couple issues. Doom is interested in what started this whole convergence thing, not in its end. He wants to know why the rock from another world has the same energy signature as Reece.

My theory is that the Beyonder is what tipped the first universes to start contracting together, and he’s taking bits and pieces from each one and putting them in this Secret Wars battle world. And that Reece and the rock have similar signatures because the rock is tied into the Beyonder’s power, which Reece is connected to through their shared origin. Doom is using Reece to learn about the Beyonder, so he can reverse engineer the convergence problem. And of course Doom has had close relationships with both of them (Reece and Beyonder) in the past.

But, Reece is also talking about origins and stories in this issue, and how they may seem true but can be false. I think we are going to be getting an all-new origin for him and Beyonder, something different than the cosmic cube, that will turn all this on its head.

It’s exciting stuff for fans of Owie, such as (obviously) myself. These last couple of issues have really amped up the story arc.

@owie: Sounds interesting. Do you think MM's new origin will be more similar to his first and better origin?

I really have no idea, but that's kind of what's interesting. I suppose it's possible he and Beyonder would be fueled by the space between universes, since that's been a big thing in the last couple issues. But that's pure speculation. It was just very interesting to see the conversation between Doom and Owen:

Doom: The rabble love stories. They love the lie, which is why there is no discernable difference between what they call truth and what they call fiction. History. A collection of half-truths weaved together so as to establish a supposed firm foundation supporting all that has been built--modernity. We can agree on this, can't we, Mr. Reece?

MM: ...They think they understand who I am--what I am--but they're wrong. You're wrong. What's an origin, but a story? What's my story, but a lie? We all love our stories, don't we?

Which could all tie into the main storyline, but also could easily be MM being meta and talking about himself.

Then later:

MM: Too much talk. But if we must talk, we should talk about beginnings--also, endings....Do you know the story? First there was nothing...then there was everything."

Which is of course the way most creation myths go, but it's also how the Beyonder's origin goes. One day he's in the Beyond realm, being nothing, then the portal to our Earth opens up and he's aware of everything.

It could also explain the reason why Earth is the point of contact in the convergences, since that's where the Beyonder first noticed our universe, and where he spent most of his time. But anyway, this is all me just guessing right now.

BEST SERIES OUT RIGHT NOW!

A great issue by Hickman. I wish we got more info about Strange's whereabouts and his status quo (e.g. how he came to be the apparent leader of the Black Priests). Kudranski's art compliments the mood of the issue nicely. His rendering of the Black Priests is gorgeous but his style is less suited for the normal looking characters.

The doctor strange thing blew my mind when it was so obvious which made it so great with all the clues it has had in the series so far.

I love this book so much but I really do wish it would get around to Hank Pym..... it's the only thing that hasn't been addressed since the time skip.